Where Crimson Peak Was Filmed in Toronto

Toronto’s extensive work on the silver screen reveals that, while we have the chameleonic ability to look like anywhere from New York City to Moscow, the disguise doesn’t always hold up to scrutiny. Reel Toronto revels in digging up and displaying the films that attempt to mask, hide, or—in rare cases—proudly display our city.

Last time out, we looked at Jessica Chastain’s recent Miss Sloane and mentioned we’re looking forward to her also-shot-in-Toronto Molly’s Game later this year. But before all that, she was in town for Crimson Peak.

As we keep mentioning (because it’s cool!), Toronto has become a second cinematic home for Guillermo del Toro, going all the way back to Mimic, but especially since Pinewood Studios has given him a gloriously large sandbox in which to play.

2015’s Crimson Peak, like del Toro’s Pacific Rim, mostly takes advantage of those massive Pinewood soundstages, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t get out and around sometimes.

After a ghosty prologue, we open on this daguerreotype, which dissolves to live action and the hustle and bustle of this marketplace in…

…Buffalo? Yes, this might be first time we’ve played our cheap-shopping-and-gas neighbour on film. Though there’s some CGI going on here, there are also real dirt streets and a lot of extras turning Kingston City Hall and market square into Buffalo here.

Our heroine, Edith, goes across the street and into this handsome building…

…and then upstairs on this beautiful staircase, to meet with her publisher. Though it’s been well-dressed and either painted or digitally colour corrected, this is actually the University of Toronto’s Victoria College building.

Sadly, Pacific Rim 2 decamped for Australia, but del Toro is still plenty busy here with season four of The Strain underway and the interesting-sounding The Shape of Waterset to come out in the fall. Keep ’em coming, we say.